Quote:
Whether you like your amplifier or not it's what's giving your headphones the piercing highs, you can remedy this with a warmer dedicated headphone amp.
If the most important issue is his sensitivity to piercing highs, I find the approach of 'amp first, headphone second' highly dubious. Perhaps that's not what your saying, but I just wanted to share my opinion, which is that the headphones will have an exponentially greater impact on the treble you will be hearing compared to the impact of an amp or DAC and that it seems rather absurd to argue otherwise.
and on to the boring thing...
Every term out there in audiophileland has its doppelganger. One description meant as praise can just as easily be turned inside-out and used to tear the same thing down. Some people will crucify the HD650s as 'boring', while others will sing it the highest praise as 'balanced'. Many love the D2Ks for their 'excitement', while others label them 'colored'. Some say the HD650s are 'veiled', while others say its 'neutral'. Etc, etc. When asking 'are the HD650s boring' you are only going to receive subjective answers because the question itself is subjective, so the only real solution you can get will be to listen to the headphones and decide for yourself.
I come from the opposite direction of the TS; I had the HD-650s and then years later added the D2Ks. I believe that both are absolutely great headphones, each with their own set of strengths and weakness. After reading what nicholars has said about the D2Ks and about what he is looking for in a new pair of cans, I think that HD650s could very well be an absolute perfect match.
Personally, I don't find the HD650s boring in the least. To me they sound incredibly well balanced and relatively transparent, making them the opposite of boring, incredibly engaging, since they offer me an excellent direct connection to the music. My music does not bore me, it excites me, thus the HD650s aren't boring in my book.
I think part of the 'boring' thing comes from some of the people who are really into audio equipment and find them boring because when they listen to music on their setup, along with the music, they want/need/expect to hear their equipment as well, and the transparency of the HD650 compared to other cans, the lack of listening fatigue, etc, doesn't give them much to point to and say,
'see, there's the 650s!!', thus it make for a very 'boring sound' in their eyes.
To me the whole 'boring' thing seem rather ridiculous in that it makes it sound like you are expecting to receive some sort of audio-goodness from your headphones beyond what is present in the music itself. The term 'boring' suggest a lack of presence, which is my mind seems more like a good thing than something to avoid.
Do you listen to music in order to hear your headphones, or do you listen to your headphones in order to hear the music?
